Pitcher Scot Drucker Blogs about his life in Taiwan playing professional baseball for the Lamigo Monkeys

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Nothing ceases to amaze me here in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. This past weekend in Pingtong we were playing Elephants in a close game. It was about the middle of the 4th inning when the Elephants manager took a visit to the mound to make a pitching change. The manager signaled down towards the bullpen for the lefty import, Tyler Lumsden. Tyler had only thrown two warm up pitches, and his teammates in the bullpen signaled he wasn’t ready. Since the manager made the signal already, Tyler was called into action. During his warmups, the coaches realized he wasn’t loose to throw and needed to buy a way to get him more warm up pitches. They then came up with a plan to randomly act like the 3rd baseman was hurt and needed to be stretched out. While all of these shenanigans are going on, Tyler seems to get about fifteen warm up pitches in. Here is the clip of the video. It starts at the 43 second mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfiRzFL3jsI&feature=channel_video_title

We ended up winning Sunday 3-1. I came into the game in the 6th inning to throw in my first relief appearance of the year. We were down in the bullpen due to our blow out of a game the day before where we lost 18-2.

Prior to coming over here to Taiwan you hear many stories from former players about the gambling issues the league has had. There are stories online and in the news from prior seasons about players, politicians, and book keepers who all were involved. It is really sad to see how it can tarnish the league and the fan support. There used to be many more teams in the league, and I believe that the gambling has affected it because now there are only four teams. In just my couple of months here I have not noticed anything weird in which gambling would be involved. I think the league has done a great job in cleaning up the past issues. There are CPBL officials all over the stadium and in and around the locker room to monitor any suspicious activity. We are not allowed to use cell phones, computers, or any other electronics once we arrive to the stadium as well. This limits the communication lines for anyone trying to make any bets or give out information. The only thing that I find a little over the top is that we are not allowed to play cards in the locker room. So no Spades, Euchre, poker, or blackjack. They don’t want to associate any type of gambling, including cards I guess. Hopefully by cleaning up this issue the league can grow and expand to bring more teams back with the amount of stadiums the country has to offer.

Questions from the Blog

1. Do you speak any Mandarin Chinese? What words have you learned so far?

I have a cheat sheet on my phone for most of the usual/common sayings for me to get around town. It includes numbers, taxi instructions, and shopping for food tips.

2. Who, out of the import players, speaks Chinese the best in your team? Please rank the Chinese level of the foreign players according to your knowledge. (And including you!)

Steve Hammond speaks the best Chinese, Ken Ray is next, and I’m in last just because I’ve only been here a couple of months.

3. Do you speak any Taiwanese? Have you learned any course words?

I have learned only about ten Taiwanese words. Most of them are just common phrases or taxi instructions. (left, right, straight, stop)

4. Have you gained or lost weight after you’ve arrived in Taiwan and started playing? Will you keep gaining or losing weight?

I think I have gained some weight being over here so far. I think I put on some bad weight at first because I didn’t know where to go to eat, so I ended up at Mcdonalds or some other fast food joint. Luckily I have figure out some of the local food places and we have a really nice gym in our stadium that we get to use prior to games.

This week we are home in Taoyuan on Tuesday and Thursday against the Sinon Bulls and on back on the road in Kaoshiung versus the Lions on the weekend. Here are some pictures of the food around town that I didn’t have a chance to post in my “food” blog last week. Please continue to comment, leave questions, and share the blog with your friends. Thanks as always for the support and taking the time to read it.

2 weeks in Taiwan so far and I’m finally getting settled in. I have recently moved into my apartment which is located about 15 minutes from the field. Prior to moving in I was staying at a gorgeous hotel called the Kuva Chateau. I’m living in a three bedroom apartment with another player, David Welch. He’s a left-handed pitcher from Australia and had played with the Brewers prior to coming out here.

My last start didn’t go as planned. I pitched against the Elephants, who seem to be the Yankees of Taiwan in the sense of their fan base. Their fans come out in large masses and root on their team. I threw 6 innings, giving up 4 runs and took the loss. I had 2 outs in the 4th inning and somehow gave up 3 runs after that. Just needed to make some better pitches.

This week we are having to play our make up games. When games are rained out or delayed over here, they have to be played on the same day of the week as the original game was scheduled as well as in the same stadium. Usually there is a two week break in between the first and second halves, but we have these make up games.

Today we had a spring training type practice. It consisted of the normal conditioning, fundamentals, base running, bunt defense, and after lunch we had batting practice. With the number of injuries we have currently, the front office staff is allowing for the minor league players to come join our team and play with us. Hopefully they will take advantage of their time, play well, and learn from the others. Our minor league team has some young and exciting players to be on the look out for.

Went to the mall yesterday. Just like any other mall in the world. The only difference is the clothing sizes are very different. For men I don’t believe I could find anything in my size. Even when I arrived and was asked my size for shirts and uniforms, I said large or XL. I was then giving a 3XL shirt which fit like a large. The styles I’ve noticed out here so far are very loud (colorful) shoes and clothing. Young female adults like wearing knee high socks that are the same color or completely different. The biggest trend right now or around town are black “sunglasses/eyeglasses” without any frame in them. So it just looks like a halloween professor costume piece.

Also had a chance to goto Taipei and checked out the Night Market and the electronics market.

-currently we are on a 5 man rotation, but only play 3-4 games a week, so the pitchers usually have 6-7 days in between starts.

-our teammates embrace american players very well. As much as we are trying to learn new things and techniques, they want to learn from us too.

-hardest and most expensive part being here is getting cabs to and from the field every single day.

-Scooters are everywhere here. I wish I had my 1999 yahama jog here with me. I’m still seeing if I can find a place to rent a scooter or borrow someones around town. anyone that can help I would really appreciate it.

-There are the normal Mcdonalds, subway, KFC (or KLC) over here

-We play at 10-12 different stadiums throughout Taiwan with only 4 teams in the league. If we are the home team at an away stadium, our team brings all of our sponsor banners from our outfield and hangs them at the field. The team store also comes on the road.

-Fans come from all over to watch these games. It would be interesting to know how far some travel to witness these games.

-The tv coverage is done extremely well over here. There are tons of camera angles for any play.

-the routine is very similar to the US for pitchers and in between starts. Its up to you when you want to throw your bullpen. Because theres so much rest between starts, I try to get 2 in during the week.

-conditioning is very important over here and they stress it. Usually before we even stretch we run for 15 minutes. Its extremely hot over here and the extra conditioning will help in the long run.

-they stick with the starters for the most part. Not many pitching changes in the game like winterball. They don’t seem to play the matchups all the time, like I have noticed in the DR or Mexico.

-there is one US umpire over here and I have had him for both of my starts. So far the strike zone has been fair and good. The field conditions are usually good, but the mounds are low and usually get holes in the landing spot after an inning or two.

Thanks as always for reading and sharing your comments and questions. I hope I got to everyones questions. Go Lamigo!

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